THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



87 



seeming qviite out of character with suooulstits, even 

 though the flowering plant itself belongs to that 

 order. The most suitable kinds of shrubs for the 

 winter planting of this central bed are upright 

 growers; not clipped to make them unnaturally 

 formal, but such as Thuja aurea, Cupresms Zawsonii 

 ereeta, and golden Uetinosporas ; and the carpeting 

 may either be that of the summer or vaiiegated Ivy, 

 Euonymus, Staohys lanata, or variegated Thyme. 

 Taking this arrangement as a whole, and taking into 

 account the gloom of winter, it is proportionately as 

 bright as that of the summer ; add to this the fact 

 of how little labour and how comparatively few 

 plants are needed to so transform the bed, and the 

 merits of winter bedding become conspicuously ap- 

 parent. 



The same principle of arrangement is applicable to 

 the simplest or the most varied of gardens, and what 

 is another advantage, it can be done wholly or in 

 part, according to the material at command. Even 

 half the beds filled in winter would certainly look 

 better than aU being empty ; for so accustomed are 

 we to see bare- beds at that season, that the half 

 which must remain empty, if necessary, owing to 

 lack of plEints, would not appear particularly objec- 

 tionable. But we must again repeat that there is 

 such an abundance of material to be had at a very- 

 cheap rate as -will, when coupled -with the desirp to 

 carry out -winter bedding on the lines here indicated, 

 render it a very easy matter indeed to f uUy furnish 

 the whole of the beds. 



List of Plants.— Keeping in view the first essen- 

 tial condition to the successful practice of this duplex 

 method of planting, viz., that of using in the summer 

 arrangement as many hardy plants as possible suit- 

 able for association with the various descriptions of 

 summer bedding plants, the list of these is placed 

 first. 



Evergreen shrubs, in small plants for middles 

 and angles of beds, to relieve objectionable flat sur- 

 faces and dense masses of colour : — 



CapressQS Lawsonii aurea. 

 C.ljawsGim argentea. 

 C. Lawsonii ereeta -viridis. 

 Enonymus macrophyllus 



vaiiegatus. 

 E. japonicus albo-variegatus. 

 Juniperus hibemica. 

 J. japonica alba vaxiegata_. 

 Osmanthus ilicifolius varie- 



gatus. 



And all other small Conifers that bear transplanta- 

 tion weU. The following are_ also suitable :— 



Betinospora obtusa densa. 



E. filifera. 



E. pisifera. 



E. pisifera aigentea. 



E. pltmiosa aurea. 



K. squarrosa. 



Thuja aurpa. 



Thujopsis borealis. 



Aralia Sieboldli. 

 Bambusa Dletake. 

 B. Fortunei. 

 Phormium tenax. 



P. tenax variegata. 

 Tucca gloriosa. 

 Y. filamentosa. 

 T. recurva. 



Of suitable small-gro-wing hardy plants that har- 

 monise well with summer bedders for use as ground- 

 works and divisional lines, the name is legion. 

 Amongst the best are many kinds of Saxifragas, 

 Sedums, Semper-vi-vums, and others of like growth and 

 habit, that are too well known to be particularised 

 here. In addition to the shrubs, &c., here named as 

 suitable for use 'in summer— and, as a matter of 

 course, throughout the winter — the following may be 

 added as effective -winter kinds : — Green and varie- 

 gated Aucubas for massing ; variegated Hollies, as 

 standards amongst masses of Berberis Aquifoliwin, B. 

 japonica, or other greenery; Cotoneaster microphylla, 

 a plant most suitable for large vases, as a companion 

 plant for the green and variegated I-vies, and Peri- 

 vrinkles (Vincas) for drooping over the edges, and it 

 also makes a good dot-plant, on a. ground-wqrk of 

 the broad-leaved Vinea elegantissima variegata. The 

 golden variegated Yew is another good plant for 

 either grouping or as single plants; and no shrub 

 bears the frequent transplantation that -winter bed- 

 ding entails as do this and the common Yew, un- 

 less perhaps it be Box, both green and variegated, 

 which are also invaluable for -winter decoration. The 

 Japanese Honeysuckle, Portugal Laurels, Skimmia 

 japonica, and Kalmias complete the Kst of shrubs; 

 but there are numerous other plants that, if common, 

 are in their way just as valuable. Amongst them 

 are Ajuga reptans purpurea, Stachgs lanata, common 

 and variegated Thymes, Heaths, Veronica incana, and 

 Veronica rupestris. Here, then, is an ample array of 

 material with which, combined with the -will, labour, 

 and ground, our gardens can be made as attractive in 

 winter as in summer. 



To get up a stock of plants of course takes time, 

 but when once had they are comparatively a per- 

 manency, which is more than can be said about sum- 

 mer bedders ; whilst, as compared -with these, they 

 do not involve a tithe of their cost, if houses, fires, 

 labour, and short duration be placed in the balance, 

 with the piece of ground that is required as a reserve 

 garden for the transfer and increase of shi-ubs, &c., 

 during the spring and summer. _ 



To be effective at once, Sedums and other dwarf 

 ground-work plants should, at the winter season, he 

 lifted in turf fashion, and be pressed do-wn in their 

 aUotted positions. To this end it is necessary to divide 

 them in spring time, and plant out in beds of con- 

 venient width for paring off without treading on the 

 plots In districts where Heather is plentiful, that 

 which has been nibbled close by rabbits makes the 

 most perfect setting, or ground-work, for aU descrip- 

 tions of shrubs ; and if this cannot be had, or any ot 

 the other ground-work plants mentioned, a surfacmg 

 of cocoa-fibre refuse will prove of imniense service by 

 imparting a finished and neat appearance. 



